Lonnie Athens was senior research criminologist at Georgetown University Law Center

Georgetown University Law Center

Georgetown University Law Center is the law school of Georgetown University, located in Washington, D.C.. Established in 1870, the Law Center offers J.D., LL.M., and S.J.D. degrees in law...

 and now teaches in the criminology department at Seton Hall University

Seton Hall University

Seton Hall University is a private Roman Catholic university in South Orange, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1856 by Archbishop James Roosevelt Bayley, Seton Hall is the oldest diocesan university in the United States. Seton Hall is also the oldest and largest Catholic university in the...

. Athens developed a theory called The Process of Violentization that supports the nurture argument of Nature vs. Nurture when it comes to serial killers.

Early life

Born in Richmond, Virginia

Richmond, Virginia

Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...

, Athens lived with his parents, Irene and Pete Athens. He was educated at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, where he started majoring in political science

Political science

Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...

 but later changed his major to Sociology

Sociology

Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...

 and Criminology

Criminology

Criminology is the scientific study of the nature, extent, causes, and control of criminal behavior in both the individual and in society...

. After graduating from Virginia Tech, Athens continued his criminology studies at the University of Wisconsin.

Career

After college Athens continued to interview inmates about their criminal lives and social experiences. He based his study on George Herbert Mead

George Herbert Mead

George Herbert Mead was an American philosopher, sociologist and psychologist, primarily affiliated with the University of Chicago, where he was one of several distinguished pragmatists. He is regarded as one of the founders of social psychology and the American sociological tradition in general.-...

, a philsopher who tried understanding how organisms acquire different traits. Athens focused on the areas of Iowa

Iowa

Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...

 and California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 for his interviews. He also worked as a probation and parole officer in northern Virginia

Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

 in 1986. He took all of his findings and his studies and put them together in the book, The Creation of Dangerous Violent Criminals, in which he discusses his theory and the cases he had to look at along the way. Athens now teaches criminology at Seton Hall University

Seton Hall University

Seton Hall University is a private Roman Catholic university in South Orange, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1856 by Archbishop James Roosevelt Bayley, Seton Hall is the oldest diocesan university in the United States. Seton Hall is also the oldest and largest Catholic university in the...

.

The Process of Violentization

Athens developed a theory known as "The Process of Violentization" which describes four stages in the development of serial killers.

• Stage 1 Brutalization: Within this stage, the subject is forced into doing violent acts by a member of their primary group.
• Stage 2 Belligerency: In this stage, the subject reinforces his warlike attitude to the situation by a method of different steps. They take personal responsibility to the fact that they started the brutalization stage to begin with. In turn, they feel like they must lash out in order to forget about what they did to begin with. The subject feels like the only way for them to make right to the situation is to keep acting out. With this repeating behavior they get emotionally attached to what they are doing. Because of this emotional attachment, the subject feels like anytime they are provoked, they can end the feeling by continuing the violent acts.
• Stage 3 Violent Performances: The subject continues to act out violently and they feel that they get inner confidence by acting like this and that in turn builds their self esteem. With their actions being executed, they feel like they get a knack for it and they incorporate it into their daily activity. In this stage they feel most comfortable with what they are doing and do not feel like they are doing anything wrong. The subject feels like they have gained celebrity status to what they are doing, and within this stage is the defining moment of whether or not they will continue to do what they are doing.
• Stage 4 Virulency: Once the subject has made it to this point, they feel like whether or not their fame is notorious or not, they believe it to be a good thing. This stage is also known as the need to show off. They feel like they can move on to bigger and better things if they wanted to and the subject tries to. They have an overcoming feeling of being invincible and that nothing can stop them, so they continue these violent acts. After this stage has been completed they are now considered to be a criminal and there is no stopping the subject to what they may do next.

Academic distinctions

• Winner of George Herbert Mead Award for Career Achievements from Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction
• Winner of Scholar of the Year Award for Physical and Social Scientists from Seton Hall University
  Seton Hall University
  Seton Hall University is a private Roman Catholic university in South Orange, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1856 by Archbishop James Roosevelt Bayley, Seton Hall is the oldest diocesan university in the United States. Seton Hall is also the oldest and largest Catholic university in the...
  
  
• Past President of Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction
• Advisory Editor for Symbolic Interaction (since 2004)
• Deputy Editor for Studies in Symbolic Interaction (since 2007)
• Member of Scientific Committee for International Society for Psychology and Law (since 2008)

Publications

• Athens, Lonnie, The Creation of Dangerous Violent Criminals, University of Illinois Press, August 1, 1992, ISBN 0252062620
• Athens, Lonnie, Violent Criminal Acts and Actors Revisited, University of Illinois Press, March 1, 1997, ISBN 0252066081
• Athens, Lonnie, Ulmer, Jeffery, Violent Acts and Violentization, Volume 4: Assessing, Applying and Developing Lonnie Athens' Theory and Research (Sociology of Crime, Law and Deviance), JAI Press, December 27, 2002, ISBN 0762309059
• Athens, Lonnie, Violent Criminal Acts and Actors: A Symbolic Interactionist Study (International library of sociology), Routledge Kegan & Paul, June 1980, ISBN 0710003420